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MathLands – Kids Logic Game & Brain Builder for Math and Critical Thinking

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MathLands

All I can say is WOW! MathLands is a completely FREE educational math app that makes kids THINK! Kids have to use logic, problem solving skills, and critical thinking to solve multiple levels of 6 different puzzles. Each puzzle is timed, has hints available, and has a section that tells the history of the puzzle. Kids can choose to start over. They can try again to get a better score or they can try again to get the BEST score. The app reveals the best possible score for each puzzle and challenges kids to achieve at that level. There is also a Math Comics section – problems are written in comic strip form. Kids solve the word problems by using the interactive manipulatives on the page. In a word full of math apps that stress practice and drill, this app is like a breath of fresh air. LOVE it!!!!

MathLands - Kids Logic Game & Brain Builder for Math and Critical Thinking - Mamanijo

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BuzzMath Middle School

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Buzz Math

FREE with an option to upgrade to premium features – BuzzMath Middle School, a math practice app for 6 – 8th graders based on the Common Core State Standards. All you need to use this educational app is an iPad 2 or higher and an internet connection. The app has 2800+ problems arranged by topic – number sense & operations, fractions & decimals, geometry, measurement, data & probability, patterns, algebraic equations, and more. Parents can register their kids individually or teachers can register their classes. Teachers who register are given a class code to distribute to their students. Once students register with the teacher’s code, the teacher can make a class assignments. The teacher also has the ability to make assignments specific to individual needs. And, as the students work, their data is being tracked and reported! Wow, individualized practice across all of the math strands, all of the work graded and reported – what’s not to love? 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/buzzmath-middle-school/id593186620?mt=8&uo=4

 

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The Really Groovy Story of the Tortoise and the Hare

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The Really Groovy Story of the Tortoise and the Hare

FREE again – The Really Groovy Story of the Tortoise and the Hare, an updated version of the classic fable. This fun rendition of the Tortoise and the Hare is set in modern times and told in rhyme. The app has two modes – Read to Me and Read by Myself. The Read to Me mode is professionally narrated. In either mode, kids will enjoy Christina Forshay’s colorful illustrations which fill the pages of this groovy tale. The story also features animations, sound effects, and background music – very nicely put together!

This book would be great to use in a classroom. You could compare and contrast this modern version to the classic tale. The story is also rich with rhyming words. You could use the book full group and identify rhyming twins (look-alike & sound-alike) and rhyming cousins (sound-alike only). Rich in vocabulary, it also makes a great choice for story time! Download it today. 🙂

The Really Groovy Story of the Tortoise and the Hare - BelugaBloo

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Pillowcapers: A Sleepy Adventure

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pillowcapers

FREE for a limited time – Pillowcapers: A Sleepy Adventure, a super-cute book about a super hero. Sam receives a seemingly ordinary, striped pillow case for his birthday. That night his pillow transforms him into a masked, caped hero with special powers. He becomes part of S.H.H.H. (Society of Heroes, Heroines, and Haberdasher) and uses special powers to battle an army of robotic clowns in his town. The action-packed story features fun animations on every page. Additional actions can be triggered by tapping on the screen when the narration for that page is finished. Check out this beautifully illustrated & animated adventure for the little super hero in your life. It is the first in a planned series for kids 3 – 8 years old.
Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pillowcapers-sleepy-adventure/id739660071?mt=8&uo=4

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Word Wizard – Talking Movable Alphabet

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word wizard

FREE today, for the first time – Word Wizard – Talking Movable Alphabet. This educational app features advanced text to speech capabilities to help kids with reading and spelling. Emergent readers can utilize the phonics movable alphabet to explore and play with words and sentences. As they do so, the app pronounces and spell-checks their work. Consonant letters are blue and vowels are red – helping kids to become aware of the differences. The short pronunciation of the vowels is featured as the letters are moved onto the board. Once a word is spelled, the app changes the vowel’s pronunciation for that word if necessary. If a word is not recognized by the app, it is still pronounced (according to the rules of phonics) but it is highlighted in red. How cool is that?!

Word Wizard can also be used for spelling practice. The app features lists of words – more than 1,400 words in all. I love that it includes the 1000 most frequently used words. Learning to recognize these words is important to a child’s overall reading fluency. The app also lets you add your own word lists. Teachers can add in their weekly spelling list and track the progress of their students. Reports can be emailed from teacher to parent or from parent to teacher. There are lots of possibilities for using this app – teach letter sounds, explore word patterns, small group word building, spelling practice, the list goes on… It’s no wonder that this app was featured in the New York Times, featured by Apple as “New and Noteworthy” and named a winner of a Parents’ Choice Award.
Highly recommended!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-wizard-talking-movable/id447312716?mt=8&uo=4

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Fractions – by Brainingcamp

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fractions

FREE until January 17  – Fractions by Brainingcamp, an excellent educational app for teaching fractions. The app covers 7 topics: introduction to fractions, equivalent fractions, common denominators, comparing/ordering fractions, adding/subtracting fractions, multiplying fractions, and dividing fractions. Each topic includes: a narrated lesson (with visual models), virtual manipulatives for kids to explore, practice questions to check understanding, and a challenging game for additional practice. Kids earn badges as they work through the components of each topic.

WOW – I love everything about this app. The lessons are wonderful. The manipulatives are designed to promote understanding of the concepts presented. The practice questions give students and their teachers a check of their understanding. And, the challenging games helps kids further master the topic. It would be a fabulous for grades 3 and beyond!

Common Core State Standards met:

  • 3.NF.1. Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.
  • 3.NF.3 – Explain equivalence of fractions and compare fractions by reasoning about their size. Understand two fractions as equivalent (equal) if they are the same size. Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3).
  • 4.NF.3 – a. Understand addition and subtraction of fractions as joining and separating parts referring to the same whole.
  • 5.NF.3 – Interpret a fraction as division of the numerator by the denominator (a/b = a ÷ b).

Highly Recommended!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fractions-by-brainingcamp/id471353363?mt=8&uo=4

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Counting Dots

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Counting Dots

FREE again – Counting Dots, an educational app for young iPad users. Kids learn to recognize/count numbers by popping colorful dots in this simple but visually appealing game. The app has three settings – counting by one, fives, or tens. There are also settings for sound, hinting, and enabling vibrations (iPhone only). The app is advertised as helping kids count from one to a million. I counted by ones to 20 and by tens to 100  – didn’t quite make it to a million. 🙂 This app is by the same developer that did Rain Dots (see my March 1 review). Recommended!

Counting Dots - Helping kids count from one to one million! - Ellie's Games, LLC

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Fiete

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Fiete

FREE today – Fiete, an interactive picture book for 1 – 3 year olds. Kids help Fiete with his everyday tasks as they put tires on a car, pop a balloon with a pin, plant a seed, load a ship, etc. There are 17 interactive scenes and 3 memory games in this educational app. There are no written instructions which makes it suitable for a wide range of kids. The app is very intuitive – little ones can easily figure out how they are supposed to help Fiete. The cute, hand-drawn illustrations & animations are accompanied by relevant sound effects. The developers of this app created it for their own children so the app is ad-free and does not contain any in-app purchases or external links. It’s a perfect choice for the youngest iPhone/iPad users!!

Fiete - Wolfgang Schmitz

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Word Games: Brain Chain & Hollow Words

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brain chain

FREE today – Brain Chain, fun rhyming puzzles for kids of all ages. Each puzzle graphically represents two words that don’t necessarily go together; but, they rhyme. The letters needed to solve the puzzle are shown along the bottom. Just tap the letters in the correct order to solve the rhyme. Points are awarded for each puzzle that is completed correctly. If a player needs a hint, he/she can buy one with points. The first two puzzle sets are free. Additional sets can be unlocked with the player’s points or with in-app purchases. Kids will discover that some rhyming words look-alike (because of their spelling) and some rhyming words only sound alike. It would be fun to use these puzzles with kids then have them make up some of their own. 🙂 They remind me of hinky-pinky riddles which were always great for teaching kids about rhyming & syllables.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brain-chain/id680239315?mt=8&uo=4

hollow words

Also FREE today – Hollow Words, another fun puzzle game from the same developer. Each puzzle graphically represents a common word or phrase. As the puzzles are correctly solved, points are awarded. Hints can be purchased if a player becomes stuck. The first two puzzle sets are free. Additional sets can be unlocked with points or with in-app purchases. I LOVE these kinds of puzzles. They’re fun and make kids think. I wish the app permitted you to go back and revisit the completed sets. It would be fun to review them and discuss what the different phrases mean. Then kids could take other common phrases and try to come up with some of their own. 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hollow-words/id689596858?mt=8&uo=4

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Bill Nye The Science Guy

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Bill Nye The Science Guy

Great FREE educational app – Bill Nye The Science Guy. 2013 was Bill Nye’s 20th Anniversary and Disney celebrated with the release of this educational app. Kids scan their thumbs to gain entrance to Nye Labs – a scientifically fascinating place. There they can play games, watch clips from their favorite shows, try some experiments, and more. When I was still teaching, I frequently used Bill Nye’s materials. My students loved his energetic, fun videos and often begged to watch them again! It’s no wonder he is the winner of 38 Emmys. This app takes kids to a place where science rules!!

Bill Nye The Science Guy - Disney